Ken Perkins
Ken Perkins
aware best buy faces half investors looking obvious rose sales second tougher
One obvious explanation (for the weakness) is that investors are aware that Best Buy faces much tougher sales comparisons, particularly in the second half of the year. Looking at the numbers, second-quarter sales were up 7.8 percent, third-quarter sales rose 5.8 percent.
anniversary company marks month next positive sales time
Next month is the first time the company marks the anniversary of positive sales comparisons. From here on, the comparisons get increasingly difficult.
apparel casual clothes frequently men sales shop
Sales of men's apparel has been lagging for some time. Men usually don't shop as frequently as women. When they do, there's only so much of casual clothes men really need.
apparel august bulk consumers indication month positive provide sales showing signs spending strongest
August is the big month because that's when the bulk of the back-to-school revenues are generated, ... But we got some very positive signs in July, especially with apparel sales showing the strongest monthly gains. Apparel sales are important because they provide the first indication of how consumers are spending their discretionary income.
april december easter gain last low percent prior pushed sales time year
The last time Wal-Mart had a monthly same-store sales gain that low was back in December of 2000, with a 0.3 percent rise. Prior to that was in April of 1996, with a 0.2 percent gain. That was probably another year when Easter got pushed into April.
came carried marketing retailers sales strength
Sales really carried through at the end of the season, particularly for the mall-based stores. Some of the strength probably came from retailers really aggressively marketing and being really promotional.
concerned earnings hit investors sales unless
That's a pretty long stretch, and investors are concerned that earnings could take a hit unless sales improve.
analyst nightmare numbers october
These numbers are not good. As one analyst put it, October will be the nightmare before Christmas.
arrival boost clearly consumer cooler falling gas gave last late october prices weather weeks
Clearly falling gas prices coupled with the late arrival of cooler weather in the last two weeks of October gave a boost to consumer spending.
disaster either line mean results season sort
If results are in line with expectations, that would mean the season was okay. It wouldn't be a blowout, but it wouldn't be a disaster either -- just sort of ho-hum. So, we'll see what happens.
argue
You could still argue that they are still too bullish,
among blamed expected gas good last missed nice numbers prices retailers seeing surprises trend upside
The numbers look pretty good so far. We are seeing more surprises to the upside and this is a nice reversal of the trend that we had expected last month. Even among those retailers who missed our forecast, not many of them blamed gas prices for it.
below earnings expected further grow growth last plenty retail
Fourth-quarter retail earnings are expected to grow 13.5 percent. That's below last year's growth and could come down further if we see plenty of promotions.
consumer finding last resilient ways year
The American consumer has been particularly resilient over the last year plus, ... They're finding ways to spend.